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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Thanks to reader M. for pointing out an additional tip for The Discreet Traveler. If you are a person of color, or your name or origin suggests "global south," I am sure this is not news to you:

11. Racial profiling is very, very real. It does not matter what passport you hold or who you're traveling with. If you look or have a name that might belong to a certain nationality or region of the world, expect to be marked for searches wherever you go.

Sad, but true.

Through no merit of my own, I have the privilege of not experiencing this sort of profiling, but on a much lower level, I can sympathize. I have often run up against a disbelief in, even contempt for, acquired nationality. Today, for instance, yet another British person told me "You're not really Canadian," meaning I was born and grew up somewhere else.

I am not quite sure why it is so important to some people to pigeonhole me as one nationality or the other, the way people need to know if a baby is a boy or a girl. Does this person deny the Canadianness of the woman upstairs, who was born in Romania and still sounds Romanian? But this woman and I have Toronto and Canada Day in common, even both took classes from George Brown College.

I said, Well I was Canadian when I moved to the United Kingdom and registered to vote. Commonwealth citizens who live in the UK can vote in elections here; Americans cannot. And I was Canadian when I exchanged my Ontario driver's license for a UK one, something I couldn't have done with a U. S. license.

I was even Canadian during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, when, like other Torontonians from all over the world, I cheered Canada's hockey teams (women's and men's) to gold medal victories. I wasn't a citizen yet. I didn't have a Canadian passport. But I had pride in a country that I had chosen, and the only country that has ever chosen me.

So yes, some people will question who or what you are, no matter how hard you have worked to achieve it. I guess they don't realize that someone who has gone through a lot to become American or Canadian--maybe even British--may value their new country more than many do who just happen to have been born some place.

Whether you are African-American, Syrian-Canadian, or Pakistani-British, the Discreet Traveler is sorry that the world is this way. Tip: Let's make it better.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

UK
colleague, approaching U.S. immigration officer with her then-fiancé.IO: What is the purpose of your visit to the
United States?UK: For a holiday, plus, we're getting married
while we're here.IO: Do you have any intention of staying longer
than you're allowed to?UK (looking at him like he is a nutjob): And pay
for health care?!IO: Good point. Next!

This same
colleague, on another occasion, was asked by the U.S. IO what she did back in
the UK. She was a bank manager. I guess the IO decided someone who was a bank
manager in the UK was unlikely to harbor secret ambitions to work in her
cousin’s gas station in America.

One of the key goals of The Discreet
Traveler is to visit different countries, as easily as possible. The first step
in doing this is usually “immigration”—the officers who are in charge of
letting people into their country, or not. These officers are called various
things depending on where they are in the world. For the purposes of this post,
immigration officer (IO) refers to them.

If you’re a typical traveler, you’re
just planning to visit a different country from where you live, not “immigrate”
there. So it may not make sense to think of going through “immigration.” The
first step of your trip, though, is getting into that other country, and these
are the guys (and gals) who will let you in, or have the power to keep you out
of it. Since many different rules and unwritten understandings govern the way
IOs do their job, and your goal is to get past them quickly and lawfully, it
will save you much time and heartache to think the way they do.

If you’ve traveled a lot, and
had many different experiences at many different borders, some of them are
bound to have been less pleasant than others. You may have developed views
about IOs in general, or those of one country in particular, that are less than
positive. You may even believe that many of the laws and regulations of
international travel are ridiculous, that people should be freer to travel than
we currently are—and The Discreet Traveler has sympathy for these views.
Nonetheless, thinking like an IO, no
matter how contrary to your personal opinions, will make your life easier.
It is for that reason that I have these tips for you here—not because I
necessarily agree with them.

An IO thinks in a certain way because it
is his or her job. IOs have a great deal of individual discretion to let you
into a country, or not. Having a visa, or a visa waiver, or a passport from a
particular country does not guarantee that the country you’re visiting will let
you in—only the IO can decide this. You can think this system is fair or not.
The point is, make your life easier by acknowledging the way IOs do their job.

They are called immigration officers
because their default position is to assume that you are immigrating. Again,
you may think this is ridiculous—you have a perfectly nice country to go home
to, do they really think everyone in the world wants to immigrate to their
country, etc. Nonetheless, it is up to you to convince the IO that you are not immigrating (unless, of course, you are, and have the proper visa for that)
Take a deep breath, and look at your situation the way the IO does. How do you
look to him or her?

The other thing to remember is that The
Discreet Traveler recommends discretion—not dishonesty. Answering the questions
the IO asks, and not volunteering all sorts of other information, will save
both of you time. Answering a question less than truthfully could, if the truth
is uncovered later, get you in more trouble than the original answer. Of course it is none of the IO’s business,
but that’s the point—they can ask you anything;
you have no rights at their border.

Top 10 tips:

1. Assume that those around you, unless
they have gone through immigration themselves, do not know correct information
about their country and its policies. Expect to have to research this yourself,
from official sources. Expect your friends to be surprised when they learn of
your experiences.

2. Assume that it will be harder to get
into a country than you think. Expect to have to apply for something, or pay
for something, ahead of time. Expect to have to provide evidence, and pack it
in your hand luggage. Be pleasantly surprised if it turns out you don’t need this.

3. Be prepared, and therefore relaxed.
Even though you might be tired from a long trip, relax and be pleasant to the
IO. There is always the chance s/he will reciprocate. A tense or
confrontational person is the most likely to get grilled, regardless if you
have any bad intentions or anything to hide.

4. Countries are different. U.S. and
Canadian passport holders rarely attract any attention at all from European
IOs, except for the United Kingdom, which pays a great deal of attention to
people at the border. The U.S. reserves the right to give everybody a hard
time, including its own citizens. Other countries may have legal and cultural
aspects, for example on homosexuality, that require extra care or may even
deter you from traveling there. Think these things through and decide in
advance how to approach the IO (lawfully and honestly). Don’t just turn up at a
border and grandstand, unless your purpose is not to get into the country (ever), but rather to publicize
something politically.

5. Every experience is different. Every
IO has discretion to do his/her job differently from the next person. You will
stand in one line one time, fill out different forms different times, etc.
Sometimes you will be made to feel welcome in a country you’ve never visited
before, and sometimes your own country (or one of them) will treat you rudely.
Just keep breathing and treat it as part of the adventure. Your only objective is to get in, and if the IO happens to be
friendly and make it a pleasant experience, that is a bonus.

6. Satisfy the IO that you can enter the
country. If you need a visa, have it, and open your passport to that page. If
you need a visa waiver, get it in advance and carry a printed copy just in
case. If your passport allows visa-free travel, know that—and appreciate it!
Some nationalities rarely get that opportunity.

7. Satisfy the IO that while you’re
visiting, you will behave consistently with the terms of a visitor’s visa (or
whatever you have). Unless you have a work permit, the IO wants to know that
you will not be undertaking work of any kind, not online, not even volunteer (check the immigration laws of the country in advance). If you’re traveling on
business, make sure it covers whatever training or meetings you’re going to do.
If you’re visiting friends, know where they live, and be honest about your
relationship with them. The IO doesn’t really care, but if you don’t know
anything about these “friends,” you might be suspected of making them up.

8. Satisfy the IO that you’ll leave when
you’re supposed to. A return or onward ticket is extremely helpful to have
(printed out), though not always possible. A home, job, family to go back to is
useful to be able to demonstrate. If you can’t point to anything that ties you
to another country, the IO may decide you are a risk to overstay, especially if
you do have ties to the country
you’re visiting—a girlfriend or boyfriend, for example.

9. All these tips assume that you do intend
to abide by the laws of the country you are visiting (even if you disagree with
them), and leave when you are supposed to, and that you are telling the IO the
truth. If you choose not to do any of these things, please know that it is not
recommended. Not only from an honesty point of view, but pragmatically. You are
more likely to have problems, both now and in the future, if an IO thinks you
have lied.

10. When, as will happen, you learn
better and some other traveler makes a naïve mistake that could have been
easily avoided if s/he had known in advance what you know, be compassionate to
those travelers. Their intentions may have been honorable and they have had a
bad experience. Try to help them for the next time, not blame them for their
previous mistakes.

My author Web site

About Me

Walking the line between discretion and paranoia, I am always writing and travel as much as I can. My first novel, Arusha, was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist. My second novel is The Trees in the Field.